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Two parliamentary committees in Iceland have reportedly proposed offloading up to 35% stake in the government-owned lender Islandsbanki – also known as the Bank of Iceland.

The committees that proposed the sale include Economic and Business Affairs Committee and the Budget Committee, Reuters reported citing the local media website Kjarninn.

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The proposal was sent to the Icelandic Ministry of Finance on 20 January 2021.

According to the finance ministry, the two committees intend to sell the stakes in a domestic listing planned for later this year, the report added.

In a statement, they proposed to sell a minimum of 25% and a maximum of 35% stakes in the bank.

The committees’ recommendations were agreed by most of their members.

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The recommendations also included a shareholding cap between 2.5% to 3% of the total share capital offered, for each bidder that intend to purchase the bank’s stakes.

The latest move comes after the 2008 financial crisis that led to the collapse of three Icelandic lenders.

One of those banks was Islandsbanki, which acquired the Icelandic operations of Glitnir, as part of its restructuring process.

In December last year, finance minister Bjarni Benediktsson first announced the plans to list the bank.

Benediktsson said that the government is aiming to sell at least 25% of the stake in the bank in a domestic listing and raise a minimum of $250m.

The stake sale is not finalised yet. The finance minister will take the committees’ suggestions into consideration and then decide on the details of the proposed sale, the Reuters report added.